scholarly journals West Nile Virus Circulation in Mosquitoes in Greece (2010–2013)

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Patsoula ◽  
Annita Vakali ◽  
Georgios Balatsos ◽  
Danai Pervanidou ◽  
Stavroula Beleri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
West Nile ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Regional Unit ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
The One

Background of the Study. Following a large West Nile virus (WNV) epidemic in Northern Greece in 2010, an active mosquito surveillance system was implemented, for a 3-year period (2011, 2012, and 2013).Description of the Study Site and Methodology. Using mainly CO2mosquito traps, mosquito collections were performed. Samples were pooled by date of collection, location, and species and examined for the presence of WNV.Results. Positive pools were detected in different areas of the country. In 2010, MIR and MLE values of 1.92 (95% CI: 0.00–4.57) and 2.30 (95% CI: 0.38–7.49) were calculated for the Serres Regional Unit in Central Macedonia Region. In 2011, the highest MIR value of 3.71(95% CI: 1.52–5.91) was recorded in the Regions of Central Greece and Thessaly. In 2012, MIR and MLE values for the whole country were 2.03 (95% CI: 1.73–2.33) and 2.15 (95% CI: 1.86–2.48), respectively, forCx. pipiens. In 2013, in the Regional Unit of Attica, the one outbreak epicenter, MIR and MLE values forCx. pipienswere 10.75 (95% CI: 7.52–13.99) and 15.76 (95% CI: 11.66–20.65), respectively.Significance of Results/Conclusions. The contribution of a mosquito-based surveillance system targeting WNV transmission is highlighted through the obtained data, as in most regions positive mosquito pools were detected prior to the date of symptom onset of human cases. Dissemination of the results on time to Public Health Authorities resulted in planning and application of public health interventions in local level.

scholarly journals Epidemiology of human West Nile virus infections in the European Union and European Union enlargement countries, 2010 to 2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (19) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna J Young ◽  
Joana M Haussig ◽  
Stephan W Aberle ◽  
Danai Pervanidou ◽  
Flavia Riccardo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
European Union ◽  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
The European Union ◽  
West Nile ◽  
European Union Enlargement ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities

Background West Nile virus (WNV) circulates in an enzootic cycle involving mosquitoes and birds; humans are accidental hosts. Aim We analysed human WNV infections reported between 2010 and 2018 to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to better understand WNV epidemiology. Methods We describe probable and confirmed autochthonous human cases of WNV infection reported by European Union (EU) and EU enlargement countries. Cases with unknown clinical manifestation or with unknown place of infection at NUTS 3 or GAUL 1 level were excluded from analysis. Results From southern, eastern and western Europe, 3,849 WNV human infections and 379 deaths were reported. Most cases occurred between June and October. Two large outbreaks occurred, in 2010 (n = 391) and in 2018 (n = 1,993). The outbreak in 2018 was larger than in all previous years and the first cases were reported unusually early. The number of newly affected areas (n = 45) was higher in 2018 than in previous years suggesting wider spread of WNV. Conclusion Real-time surveillance of WNV infections is key to ensuring that clinicians and public health authorities receive early warning about the occurrence of cases and potential unusual seasonal patterns. Human cases may appear shortly after first detection of animal cases. Therefore, public health authorities should develop preparedness plans before the occurrence of human or animal WNV infections.

scholarly journals Blood donor screening for West Nile virus (WNV) revealed acute Usutu virus (USUV) infection, Germany, September 2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (14) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Cadar ◽  
Philipp Maier ◽  
Susanne Müller ◽  
Julia Kress ◽  
Michael Chudy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Blood Donor ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
West Nile ◽  
Usutu Virus ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Blood Donor Screening ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
The University

Between 1 June and 31 December 2016, 13,023 blood donations from the University Hospital Aachen in Germany were routinely screened for West Nile virus (WNV) RNA using the cobas TaqScreen WNV Test. On 28 September 2016, one blood donor was tested positive. Subsequent analysis revealed an acute Usutu virus (USUV) infection. During the ongoing USUV epizootics in Germany, blood transfusion services, public health authorities and clinicians should be aware of increased human USUV infections.

scholarly journals West Nile virus surveillance in Europe: moving towards an integrated animal-human-vector approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Céline M Gossner ◽  
Laurence Marrama ◽  
Marianne Carson ◽  
Franz Allerberger ◽  
Paolo Calistri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Vector Surveillance ◽  
West Nile ◽  
Zoonotic Infections ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities

This article uses the experience of five European countries to review the integrated approaches (human, animal and vector) for surveillance and monitoring of West Nile virus (WNV) at national and European levels. The epidemiological situation of West Nile fever in Europe is heterogeneous. No model of surveillance and monitoring fits all, hence this article merely encourages countries to implement the integrated approach that meets their needs. Integration of surveillance and monitoring activities conducted by the public health authorities, the animal health authorities and the authorities in charge of vector surveillance and control should improve efficiency and save resources by implementing targeted measures. The creation of a formal interagency working group is identified as a crucial step towards integration. Blood safety is a key incentive for public health authorities to allocate sufficient resources for WNV surveillance, while the facts that an effective vaccine is available for horses and that most infected animals remain asymptomatic make the disease a lesser priority for animal health authorities. The examples described here can support other European countries wishing to strengthen their WNV surveillance or preparedness, and also serve as a model for surveillance and monitoring of other (vector-borne) zoonotic infections.

scholarly journals First serological evidence of West Nile virus among equines and birds in Kosovo, 2018-2019

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agim Rexhepi ◽  
Kurtesh Sherifi ◽  
Kristaq Berxholi ◽  
Betim Xhekaj ◽  
Nesade Muja-Bajraktari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Neutralization Test ◽  
Virus Detection ◽  
Control Program ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
West Nile ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Domestic Bird ◽  
Domestic Birds ◽  
Public Health Authorities

Abstract Background: This study was conducted to survey the presence of the West Nile virus (WNV) in Kosovo by serological testing of the healthy autochthonous equine population and virus detection in birds and mosquitoes. Between January 2018 and June 2019, 260 equine serum samples, 626 mosquitoes (60 pools), 50 domestic birds and 51 wild birds were collected from different regions of Kosovo. Equine and domestic bird serum samples were tested by IgG ELISA while mosquitoes and bird viscera were tested for WNV RNA by RT-PCR. Positive ELISA samples were confirmed by Plaque Reduction Neutralization Test (PRNT) and eight by Virus Neutralization Test (VNT). Results: This is the first report providing evidence of WNV antibodies among animals in Kosovo. WNV antibodies were present in 27 out of 260 equine sera (10.38%) and one out of 50 samples in domestic birds by ELISA and PRNT. Eight of 27 positive equine serum samples were confirmed by VNT. No WNV RNA was detected in birds or mosquitoes.Conclusions: The occurrence of WNV antibodies in autochthonous equines from all regions of Kosovo indicates that the virus is circulating within the country. Public health authorities should therefore plan a risk assessment and disease control program.

scholarly journals Analyzing Twitter Data to Evaluate People’s Attitudes towards Public Health Policies and Events in the Era of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6272
Author(s):  
Meng Hsiu Tsai ◽  
Yingfeng Wang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Data Preprocessing ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Twitter Data ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
People’S Attitudes

Policymakers and relevant public health authorities can analyze people’s attitudes towards public health policies and events using sentiment analysis. Sentiment analysis focuses on classifying and analyzing text sentiments. A Twitter sentiment analysis has the potential to monitor people’s attitudes towards public health policies and events. Here, we explore the feasibility of using Twitter data to build a surveillance system for monitoring people’s attitudes towards public health policies and events since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we conducted a sentiment analysis of Twitter data. We analyzed the relationship between the sentiment changes in COVID-19-related tweets and public health policies and events. Furthermore, to improve the performance of the early trained model, we developed a data preprocessing approach by using the pre-trained model and early Twitter data, which were available at the beginning of the pandemic. Our study identified a strong correlation between the sentiment changes in COVID-19-related Twitter data and public health policies and events. Additionally, the experimental results suggested that the data preprocessing approach improved the performance of the early trained model. This study verified the feasibility of developing a fast and low-human-effort surveillance system for monitoring people’s attitudes towards public health policies and events during a pandemic by analyzing Twitter data. Based on the pre-trained model and early Twitter data, we can quickly build a model for the surveillance system.

Key Communicable Diseases of Public Health Significance and UK Legislation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Basarab
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Communicable Diseases ◽  
Clinical Syndrome ◽  
Clinical Suspicion ◽  
Health Protection ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Control And Prevention

Timely reporting to public health authorities of certain infections which are transmissible between individuals and/or are likely to have been acquired from a contaminated source is essential to prompt immediate action to reduce further spread. In England, Health Protection Teams (HPTs) effect health protection actions at local level. They act as the ‘proper officer’ carrying out the function of receiving notifications in relation to the statutory regulations for both attending registered medical practitioners and diagnostic laboratories (see Section 14.6 and Section 14.7). Notification to public health authorities is a legal requirement. It is critical to the control and prevention of outbreaks of communicable diseases and is an integral part of wider local and national infection surveillance. Clinical recognition is the first step and public health authorities should be notified on clinical suspicion before obtaining laboratory test results to look for causative pathogens. As soon as a notification has been made, public health risk assessment and appropriate measures can be initiated. These may include preventing others being exposed to cases or a possible source of contamination, offering chemoprophylaxis, vaccination, education, and closing down of premises. The intervention will depend on the clinical syndrome, the confirmed or presumed infectious agent involved, and any further supporting or refuting diagnostic laboratory results. Time is of the essence; there should be no delay in notifications. Health protection legislation is set out in the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010. It requires both registered medical practitioners (RMPs) and laboratories to notify cases of infection or contamination that could present a significant risk to human health, on the basis of clinical suspicion or laboratory confirmation. The medical doctor (and no other healthcare professional) attending the patient with possible or probable or confirmed infection is responsible for notification to the public health authorities.

scholarly journals Vector Borne Infections in Italy: Results of the Integrated Surveillance System for West Nile Disease in 2013

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Napoli ◽  
Simona Iannetti ◽  
Caterina Rizzo ◽  
Antonino Bella ◽  
Daria Di Sabatino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surveillance System ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
West Nile ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Vector Borne ◽  
Human Side ◽  
Fine Tune

The epidemiology of West Nile disease (WND) is influenced by multiple ecological factors and, therefore, integrated surveillance systems are needed for early detecting the infection and activating consequent control actions. As different animal species have different importance in the maintenance and in the spread of the infection, a multispecies surveillance approach is required. An integrated and comprehensive surveillance system is in place in Italy aiming at early detecting the virus introduction, monitoring the possible infection spread, and implementing preventive measures for human health. This paper describes the integrated surveillance system for WND in Italy, which incorporates data from veterinary and human side in order to evaluate the burden of infection in animals and humans and provide the public health authorities at regional and national levels with the information needed for a fine tune response.

scholarly journals Imported chikungunya cases in an area newly colonised by Aedes albopictus: mathematical assessment of the best public health strategy

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Sochacki ◽  
Frédéric Jourdain ◽  
Yvon Perrin ◽  
Harold Noel ◽  
Marie-Claire Paty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Economic Cost ◽  
Public Health Strategy ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Laboratory Confirmation ◽  
Health Strategy ◽  
Imported Cases ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Local Transmission

We aimed to identify the optimal strategy that should be used by public health authorities against transmission of chikungunya virus in mainland France. The theoretical model we developed, which mimics the current surveillance system, predicted that without vector control (VC), the probability of local transmission after introduction of viraemic patients was around 2%, and the number of autochthonous cases between five and 15 persons per hectare, depending on the number of imported cases. Compared with this baseline, we considered different strategies (VC after clinical suspicion of a case or after laboratory confirmation, for imported or autochthonous cases): Awaiting laboratory confirmation for suspected imported cases to implement VC had no significant impact on the epidemiological outcomes analysed, mainly because of the delay before entering into the surveillance system. However, waiting for laboratory confirmation of autochthonous cases before implementing VC resulted in more frequent outbreaks. After analysing the economic cost of such strategies, our study suggested implementing VC immediately after the notification of a suspected autochthonous case as the most efficient strategy in settings where local transmission has been proven. Nevertheless, we identified that decreasing reporting time for imported cases should remain a priority.

Zoological institution participation in a West Nile virus surveillance system: Implications for public health

Public Health ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 125 (9) ◽  
pp. 592-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Pultorak ◽  
Y. Nadler ◽  
D. Travis ◽  
A. Glaser ◽  
T. McNamara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
West Nile ◽  
Virus Surveillance

scholarly journals First Field Evidence On Circulation and Vertical Transmission of West Nile Virus Lineage-1a in Mosquitoes of Southern Iran

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elham Biabangard Isfahani ◽  
Mohammad Saaid Dayer ◽  
Seyed Hassan Moosa Kazemi
Keyword(s):  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Vertical Transmission ◽  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Southern Region ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
West Nile ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Field Evidence ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Bandar Abbas

Abstract Background Mosquitoes play an important role in the transmission of arboviruses including neuroinvasive West Nile virus. (WNV). Despite reports on seroepidemiological evidence and distribution of potential vectors of WNV in Iran, its transmission and dominant lineage(s) in mosquitoes of the Southern region has not been yet investigated. This study was conducted to inventory mosquitoes in Hormozgan province and explore them for WNV infection. Methods A total of 6785 larvae and adult mosquitoes were collected from 11 sites during 2015–2016. The mosquitoes were analyzed for WNV lineage detection by RT-PCR. Results This study revealed vertical transmission of Lineage 1a WNV in five groups including two groups of Cx. pipiens collected in winter and spring as well as three others containing Cx. sitiens, Anopheles stephensi and Cs. longiareolata collected in autumn from Bandar Abbas city. Conclusion The vertical transmission of WNV by effective vectors indicates the incursion of enzootic transmission in the region. The cross-species WNV transmission and prevalence of infected migratory birds coming from Europe and Siberia demand a comprehensive surveillance of WNV infection in hosts and vectors. However, vector-based surveillance remains the most accurate and feasible indicator to assess the impending risk of WNV in Iran. Given the serological and molecular evidences of WNV presence in humans, equines and birds in 26 provinces, the public health authorities should pay more attention to vector control measures to reduce the risk of WNV epidemics in the southern region of Iran.

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